


Say It

by lunrdarling



Category: IASIP, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it's always sunny
Genre: F/M, Fluff, ahhh, also im kind of so down for dom!dee, and i feel like this kind of shows that a bit, and not making him feel like an idiot for being illiterate, but there are definitely feelings there, dee helping charlie learn to read, getting upset when he calls himself stupid, i guess, i just really love the idea of dee helping him, like being the more dominant one in the relationship, they're not dating or anything in this fic, which is why she wants him to understand that he's not stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 07:36:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12249906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunrdarling/pseuds/lunrdarling
Summary: Dee wants to help Charlie learn how to read.





	Say It

They had been sitting at Dee’s kitchen table for almost two and a half hours now. She’d picked up a few Magic Tree House books from a thrift store downtown and convinced Charlie to sit down with her and try to read them. At first he’d thought it was a joke and thought she was setting him up to make fun of him. It hurt Dee when he’d reacted that way. The guys gave him such a hard time for not knowing how to read or write-- and she had to admit that she did too, sometimes-- but she knew that he could learn. He wasn’t some hopeless idiot, even though a lot of people seemed to treat him like he was. 

Dee was being more patient than she ever knew she was capable of being. In the beginning, he was obviously hesitant. He kept looking at her nervously. His whole body was tense. She guessed that he was bracing himself for her to laugh or tease him or just give up. That never happened, though. Dee wanted to help him. It wasn’t a joke and it wasn’t a trick. He seemed to realize this over time, and stopped being so suspicious of her. He started to genuinely focus, and try. 

That led to a lot of frustration and anger on his part.

Charlie yelled loudly and threw the book down on the table. It slid across the surface and stopped just before it fell off the edge. He put his hands in his hair and pulled hard, yelling again. This was the most frustrated he’d gotten so far, after having a particularly rough time with a new chapter. 

“Goddammit Dee!” He slammed one of his hands down on the kitchen table. She knew that his hostility was misdirected, and didn’t respond. She just let him get it out. He let out a hot, angry breath of air, “This is just a bad idea! This is stupid!” He slammed his hand down again. 

“Drink,” She moved his glass of water close to him. He glared at it for a few seconds but gave it, picking it up and taking a few sips. When they’d started, he’d tried to convince her to let him have a beer or two while they worked. Dee loved her alcohol as much as the next person but even she knew that Charlie being even slightly intoxicated would hurt him more than help him. 

He let out a sigh, a little calmer this time. 

“Talk to me,” She prompted, “What are you thinking?” 

He pressed the heels of his palms against his closed eyes and groaned, still upset. 

“Hey,” She grabbed one of his wrists lightly and pulled one of his hands away from his face. He moved the other one voluntarily, “Open your eyes and look at me,” He did as she told him, “What’s in that head of yours, huh?” 

“Nothing,” He said, clenching his jaw. Then, he repeated himself a bit louder, “Nothing! Nothing is in my head and that’s the problem!” He shut his eyes and wrinkled his forehead in frustration. 

“You were doing so good, Charlie,” Dee encouraged. 

“No, Dee! I wasn’t!” He looked at her again, “You probably could have finished that book already! You probably could have read it frontwards and backwards twenty thousand times! And, and it’s taken me forever to just get like, halfway through it!” 

She put her hand on his back and rubbed it gently. 

“But could you have read that much of a book before?” She said softly. He shook his head, “See? You’re learning.” 

“I’m never gonna get it, Dee..” His voice dropped lower and he started speaking quieter than before. 

“Yes you are. You’re doing better already.”

“No, I’m not,” He shook his head, “I’m gonna be illegitimate forever..” 

“Illiterate, Charlie..” She corrected. 

“See! See! I can’t even call myself stupid right!” He slumped back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Hey,” Suddenly, Dee’s voice was a lot more serious, although it still had a certain softness to it, “You are /not/ stupid.” 

He didn’t say anything. 

“Look at me, Charlie,” She put her hand on his chin and turned his head so he was looking in her direction. She locked eyes with him, “You are /not/ stupid, you hear me? Just because you have trouble reading and writing doesn’t mean you’re stupid. People might give you a hard time, but that doesn’t mean /shit/,” Dee pulled the words right from her heart, trying to get him to understand just how much she meant them. 

“You know how to do things and you’ve figured out shit that I could never even begin to do. Why do you think the guys come to you all the time with all these chores and shit for you? Yeah, it’s always shitty stuff that they don’t want to do, but you know how to do it all. And you know the best ways to do it, don’t you?” He didn’t respond, so she repeated herself again, “Don’t you??”

He nodded his head slowly. 

“Just because you’re not book smart doesn’t mean shit, Charlie. You can be smart in other ways. You /are/ smart in other ways,” She moved her hand to cup the side of his face, “You are /so/ smart, Charlie. Don’t ever let anyone make you think differently. /Ever/. Do you understand me?” 

He nodded again. 

“Say it. Tell me you’re not stupid,” He just looked at her for a few seconds, looking a little timid, “Say it, Charlie. Right now.” 

“I’m,” He let out a shaky sigh, “I’m not stupid.” 

“Again.” She demanded. 

“I’m not stupid,” He said a little more confidently now. 

“Louder,” 

“I’m not stupid!” He yelled so loudly that she thought one of her neighbors must have heard him. 

“That’s my boy,” She grinned. He blushed a bit, “Now,” She hit her hand on the table matter-of-factly, “I’m going to go make us some PB&Js, because I’m fucking starving,” She stood up, “And after we finish eating, we’ll read some more, okay?” 

“Okay,” He was smiling now, too. His eyes were brighter and there was a new kind of motivation that she hadn’t seen in them before.

He reached across the table and picked up the book again. She saw him open to the front page and start putting his finger under the words, mouthing them silently to himself like a child would do when they were learning to read. It made her heart swell in her chest and her smile grow wider. 

“That’s my boy,” Dee repeated, whispering it more to herself this time than actually saying it to Charlie.


End file.
